Recollection
by chocolafied
Summary: "It seemed like her eyes opened on their own. She couldn't control them. A black figure was running towards her in the snow. They fell on their knees beside her, panting heavily. She closed her eyes again. Everything slowly faded away with the passing of each second. Tick...Tick...Tick... And then, she couldn't hear his voice anymore."
1. Chapter 1

The snow kept falling. It didn't care about anything in the world. It just kept falling. The gray sky that blocked out the sun seemed to fit the scene, how ironic…

There was a stumble, and a weak Mai could be seen, tired and fighting to keep moving, to keep her eyes open. Her eyes were so dull, so lifeless…all they wanted to do was to close, but she wouldn't let them. Her body trembled, weakly being able to still support itself. Why, oh _why_ did this have to happen? Why did Naru have to be so _cruel_?

Her attire consisted of a wool sweater, a pair of pink fuzzy ear muffs, red and white gloves, a light blue skirt with black stockings, and red snow boots, but it seemed like it wasn't enough, the warmth kept seeping away from her, like it was being sucked away. She couldn't keep it in.

She looked up weakly at the dull sky. The snow still kept falling. Weakly, she held out her hands in front of her openly, catching snowflakes that landed and soon disappeared. Her eyes agonizingly kept staring up at the gray clouds. Her lips, now a deep purple, began to quiver. She felt numb. Her legs couldn't take it anymore. She fell onto her knees, her knees not feeling anything, already numb from the cold.

The brown haired girl's hands fell to her sides. Her panting increased some more. A moment later, she fell forward, her gloved hands now supporting her weight. _Why? Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did he _still_ have to be a cold bastard?_

She still kept fighting at keeping her eyes open while panting heavily. It seemed like she couldn't breathe enough.

"_Mai…Mai…Where are you?"_ it sounded feint, far away. Mai picked up her head laboriously, her eyes still wanting to close, but she wouldn't let them. She couldn't…not yet…She wanted someone to find her…she wanted _Naru_ to find her…but maybe…just maybe…he _wouldn't_ this time…

She fell, her head on its side while her body lay face down. Breathing seemed harder and harder…

"_Mai…Mai…"_ the voice seemed to get louder, yet…it couldn't be him…it just couldn't. He's still mad at her. She knew that. So then…_why?_ Why was her brain torturing her with thinking about _him?_

Mai tried getting up. Her body didn't have enough strength. She just weakly fell. She tried again. Same result. She tried once more. This time, she fell, and she couldn't move any more. She couldn't move…

"_Mai…Mai…!"_ the calling was even louder this time. It even sounded more like him…she sighed strenuously, smiling oh, so weakly. This is it, the end. No happy ending like she hoped for after all, huh?

Her eyes finally closed. Her breathing was dragging out now.

"MAI!"

It seemed like her eyes opened on their own. She couldn't control them. A black figure was running towards her in the snow. They fell on their knees beside her, panting heavily. She closed her eyes again. Everything slowly faded away with the passing of each second.

_Tick…Tick…Tick…_

And then, she couldn't hear his voice anymore.

* * *

**Let me know if you want a part II! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

It started out as what SPR would call _"odd",_ nothing happened at first. Watanabe Hayate, a rich Japanese business man working for the Japanese Sony branch, reported what some people would call _"unusual"_ activity coming from his winter lodge. Chairs would move on their own, appliances, such as the coffee maker and the light fixtures would turn on and off randomly, sometimes flickering on and off for a few minutes. He first thought it was the wiring for the house, after all, it was well over fifty years old, according to the statement that both Mai and Naru took when he walked in about a month later. The electrician's evaluation came up negative for faulty wiring._  
_

And then he called SPR, who "happily" took on the case. (And by "happily", I mean Mai nagging Naru to do so.) And here they were, standing in front of the cabin, surrounded by snow. And now as the crew began to carry things into the fairly large house, Mai stared up at the house, a feeling of sickness twisted with fear manifesting inside of her. The brunette pursed her lips, hoping that the feeling would go away, but it only intensified. Her body was immune to the cold it seemed. The emotions that she was now experiencing were taking over her.

"_You're _mine." A whisper in the wind sent her hairs standing and a shiver through her. Brown eyes dilated and the girl's breathing hitched somewhat. The girl stood in the snow, swallowing hard and paralyzed with fear.

"Mai!" Naru's voice seemed to break the spell, sending it shattering to the ground. Mai blinked and turned her head to see him with his usual mask on.

"C-Coming!" the assistant ran over to her boss and helped him with the equipment. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that something was going to happen. And the feeling to her was _terrible_.

* * *

**Sorry I'm Late. Forgot about the story :')  
Review for a third chapter? :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Anything happen?" Mai asked as she walked into the base that they had set up earlier on in the day. Naru and Lin's eyes seemed glued to the monitor screens that gave them eyes to almost all of the rooms in the house.

"No, which isn't unusual." The blue eyed man cupped his chin with his hand, apparently thinking about something. "Twenty four hours haven't passed yet. Spirits usually don't react between the first full day of an investigation."

"I see." The brunette bowed her head and held her hands together against her lap.

The door opened again, this time Yasu and everybody else came in. Naru and Lin turned slightly from where they were. "We finished taking all of the temperatures." The student stated, holding up the clipboard in his hands to emphasize his point. "All of them are considered to be normal." Yasuhara then turned to look through the pages that were mounted to the board. "We didn't notice anything normal."

The boss gave a light nod to the high school student before turning to Masako. "Miss Hara, can you sense anything?"

The black haired medium turned to face Naru when she heard her name being called. A moment passed by before she slowly nodded her head. "Yes, I do. But…" she hid her face behind her raised kimono sleeve.

"'But' what?"

"…It doesn't feel like a spirit." Five pairs of eyes widened at the statement, leaving a calm and composed trio consisting of Naru, Masako, and Lin to act as if the news meant nothing to them.

Mai's brain went into overdrive. _What _are_ we dealing with, then?_

* * *

"Here's your tea, Naru."

Said boss looked up from the book that he seemed to never put down. Feint lines could be seen under his cold and dark blue eyes. The teenager nodded at his assistant before turning back to his book. The assistant sighed lightly, looking down at the cup of the steaming Earl Grey tea.

No thank you was uttered as the narcissist took the tea from his assistant. But he didn't even get to sip the delicious beverage. Naru stopped, just as it was about to touch his lips. Mai blinked in surprise. "What's wrong, Naru?"

"Go get the others," the boss ordered. Mai widened her eyes.

"But-"

"GO."

Reluctantly, Mai left the room, almost running down the hall and rounding the corridor into the room where everyone else had been. She stopped, leaning against the doorframe, panting/

"Mai, what happened?" asked an alarmed Bou-san as he walked over to the brunette.

"It's Naru. He told me to get you guys. I think something happened."

No other words were exchanged as they ran back down to the room that the narcissist had been sitting in. Mai's eyes widened in alarm when she took in the current state of the room. The Earl Grey tea had been spilled and papers were scattered on the floor.

John dared to ask the lingering question, "Where's Kazuya?"

* * *

**I apologize for the lateness of the update. You can blame schoolwork for that.  
**

**Let me know what you think?**


	4. Chapter 4

Lin stared at the mess in the room before his eyes went to look at the brunette. "Mai, what happened?"

Startled, the assistant turned around before looking down at the ground in shame almost. "I…I don't know…Naru told me to leave and I did…I sensed something, but barely…" tears were welding at her brown eyes. Ayako sighed.

"Mai, this isn't your fault…"

"But it feels like it! Naru always does things like this and I can't do anything but get myself in danger or just cry like a baby." Mai was now sobbing while the priestess rubbed her back soothingly.

Lin walked forward to where the tea was spilt over the paperwork. His eyes widened when he saw something and leaned down to pick up one slip of paper. "Takigawa."

The monk picked up his head.

"Come over here for a sec."

The guitarist did as he was told, and examined the slip with scrutinizing eyes.

"What does that look like to you?"

A sigh. "Sandkrit."

Ayako looked up. "Sandskrit?"

"Yeah," Takigawa spoke, taking the slip to show everyone. "And it's in blood." Indeed, the slip was written in red. Mai's widened in horror, along with Yasu, John, and Masako.

Meanwhile, the wind howled and a snowstorm was brewing as they spoke. Small snowflakes began floating from the almost darkened sky outside.

"We should finish setting up the equipment," the Chinese man spoke, turning to face the rest of SPR. "Naru's definitely in this house somewhere. We'll find him sooner if we get the equipment out." With only a mere nod from everyone save the monk, they all left and went to get the equipment from the control center and to spread it out through all the rooms of the lodge.

"Takigawa."

"Hmm?" the monk turned and looked at the other man with questioning brown eyes.

"What did it say?"

Silence. Takigawa remained silent before sighing in reply, "It's best if you don't find out at the moment." Before following the rest of the crowd out the door and heading to the control center. Lin, on the other hand, took one last cursory glance at the slip before he too left the room.

When the room was empty, a few pieces of paper blew lightly and the temperature dropped.

* * *

**Well, here's the newest chapter! :3**

**Review and let me know what you guys thought? c:**


	5. Chapter 5

"Anything in the case report that we can start off?" Takigawa asked with his arms crossed, deep in thought.

"Well," Ayako started. "There were reports of things moving on their own and lights flickering on and off along with appliances turning on and off as well. That's all that we have at the current moment."

The old monk sighed before looking up at Mai. "Mai," he addressed the teen girl. The brunette picked her head up, half asleep.

"Hn?" the girl drowsily rubbed her eyes with both of her hands.

"Is there anything you can tell us that you remember?" the old monk asked. Mai shook her head, biting her lip nervously.

Yasuhara yawned. "It's late. I think we should hit the hay."

Ayako sighed. "I agree. We won't be able to find Naru if we don't charge our batteries…Mai?"

Mai was already asleep on the couch in the base. She smiled lightly before taking the blanket that was folded on the top of the couch and covering the teen with it.

"Ayako, you're going to be in here with Mai?" John asked. The priestess nodded.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on her." And with that, Ayako sat down on a neighboring chair and made herself as comfortable as possible while Lin went back to surveillance duty. Mai turned over in her sleep, facing the back of the couch as she dreamed…

* * *

…"_Where am I?" Mai looked around. It was nothing but pitch black in her dream. Yet for some reason, she could still see herself…_

"_Adduucat ignis…" a voice passed her by and continued in the direction she was facing. _

"_Huh?" Mai's expression held bewilderment as she started walking forward. A dim red light could be seen in the distance. _

"_Adduucat inferno…" the voice grew louder this time. A sudden chill passed by the medium. "De abyssis inferiorem…Voco diabolica creatura umbras…" the voice kept growing louder in the darkness and the red light grew brighter and separated into smaller lights…like _candles_. Mai's eyes widened when she saw a red star in a circle drawn on the floor not too far from where she was standing. _

_The candles were placed on the ends of the star…it was a pentagram. She looked up, seeing a cloaked figure read from a worn book, sporting a menacing grin on his face. "Surgunt! LAMIA noctis!" A strong wind then came from out of nowhere and threatened to blow back the teen medium. The air swirled violently around the pentagram and the lights of the candles blew out. It was now once again completely dark…until blood splatter landed on the ground and covered the girl with a few drops of its crimson liquid…_

* * *

***dodges thrown rotten tomatoes* Sincerest apologies for the...*dodges again* wait.**

**Feel free to leave any form of feedback. Most appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

**_"Don't let it out, just keep it in. Let the truth burn from within. Don't say a word._**_" – Naïve (Don't Say A Word) by Lovers and Liars._

* * *

Yasuhara adjusted his glasses and looked at the clock on the wall.

1:05 AM.

His eyes then traveled to the unconscious brunette lying in the bed. He, along with the remainder of the group, had been woken up by Mai's screams about fifteen minutes ago. Lin had identified the foreign words to be in the dead tongue of Latin. Said translator, meanwhile, was typing away on his laptop.

Her eyes flickered. Ayako, who was sitting right beside her, grasped her hand. "Mai! Sweety, wake up!" the teen groaned lightly as the fuzziness in her vision slowly lifted with slow and anxious seconds. "Aya..ko.."

"I'm here," the miko replied.

"You were screaming in your sleep," Takigawa interrupted. "Care to tell us what was going on?"

The girl's mind was blank, searching for answers. Red lines of a star then entered her vision, along with the recognition of the low voice, the chant…the _candles_.

Her heart stopped and her blood ran cold for a moment. Red eyes, red eyes everywhere in her brown ones. The familiar faces that she had come to love so much faded away…and they had red eyes too.

"NO! NO! GO AWAY!" Mai began screaming, struggling against the weight on her chest that had no visible source. The room had grown dark, darker by the second. On the ceiling, she could see a red pentagram slowly closing in on her. She slammed her eyes shut and began to feel the fires of hell closing in on her…

"MAI!"

Brown eyes opened up again.

_Gone_…It was all…_gone._ John, Masako, Lin, Yasu…They were all _back_.

"Mai, what happened?" the teen heard the monk's voice through the hammering that was still going on in her head. Her vision was still faltering, blurring briefly for a second with every passing two or three but slowly faded away. The light that was on the ceiling partially blinded her, its glare seemingly mocking her. Mai's gaze searched through the groups', looking for _something_. She then met Lin's…he wasn't puzzled like the rest.

The Chinese man grabbed the girl's right arm harshly, pushing up the pajama sleeve. She cried out in sudden pain and bewilderment.

"Lin, what are you doing?" Ayako asked while glaring at him. Her eyes then traveled down to the girl's arm, and so did everyone else's.

John let out an audible gasp. "Oh, my."

Masako sheathed her face behind her kimono sleeve. "Mai…"

There it was, the _star_, the pentagram from before, right there on her arm, clear as day.

"There's no need to ask her." Lin finally spoke. "It's all right here. Mai's frightened eyes met the man's cold ones. "She's been marked."

* * *

Meanwhile outside, the night winds howled and beat up against the lodge. In a dark room, clouds of air could be seen appearing before vanishing, as if they were never there. They were slow and steady, coming from a pale mouth while blue eyes drooped and were barely staying open.

A scream echoed through the walls, a girl's scream. The eyes widened and the mouth clenched, teeth gritted together. The figure shifted and sat up, now looking out of the high and small window. The snow wasn't going to stop anytime soon. He only managed to breathe out a word, a name, before coughing heavily. "Mai…"

* * *

**Now, I know that this is (1) This is late and (2) it's short. I apologize for both. My personal life's a bitch that likes to screw up my life -_-;**

**Feedback appreciated! ^ w ^**


End file.
